Centrifugal drier



June 23, 1925. 1,542,929

E. WOOLRICH ET AL I CENTRIFUGAL DRIER Filed Jan. '7, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1- Albrne I June 23, 1925. 1,542,929

E. WOOLRICH ET AL CENTRIFUGAL DRIER Filed Jan. 1924' 2 Sheets-Sheet .2

Patented June 23, 1925.

UNITED STATES EDWARD WOOLRIGH, OF SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO, AND GOTTLIEIB RUDOLPH A 1,542,929 PATENT OFFICE.

HOLLIGER, OF MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA.

CENTRIFUGAL DRIER.

Application filed January 7, 1924. Serial No. 684,889.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, EDWARD WOOLRICH and Go'rrmnu RUDOLPH HOLLIGER, a subject of the King of Great Britain,and a citizen of Switzerland, respectively, and residents of the city of Sault Ste. Marie, in the Province of Ontario, in the Dominion of Canada, and the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, respectively, have invented new and useful Centrifugal Driers, of which the following is the specification.

The invention relates to a centrifugal drier as described in the present specification and shown in the accompanying drawings that form part of the same.

The invention consists essentiallyof the novel features of construction pointed out broadly and specifically in the claims for novelty following a description containing an explanation in detail of. an acceptable form of the invention.

The objects of the invention are to insure despatch and efficiency in drying out lumber, fuels, merchandise and various food products; to accomplish this purpose by the utilization of the elements of nature in mechanical contrivances; to eliminate unnatural conditions in the remainder of the material following the removal of the moisture; to furnish in the material treated a useful industrial or edible commodity to the public; to facilitate the operations in many factories and plants and to reduce the cost of labor without diminishing the capacity; to minimize the distribution of offensive odors in the vicinity of the drying apparatus, and generally to provide a durable and serviceable drier, cheap to maintain and operate and effective and thorough in so far as the results are concerned.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspeca portion of a carriage container.

Figure 6 is a plan view of the drying plan Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view of a four chamber machine and showing another form of journalling the frame.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the various figures.

Referring to the drawings, the frame 1 is formed of the upper trusses 2 and lower trusses 3 formed of the tie beams 4, the centre beams 5 and struts 6 to which the vertical posts 7, 8, 9 and 10 are rigidly secured, the trusses and posts being preferably made of heavy angle bars riveted together and said posts extending through from truss to truss in each section of the frame.

The longitudinal girders 11 and 12 preferably in the form of angle bars are rigidly secured to and space the several sections of the lower tie beams 4 of the trusses 2 and 3 and at the top and bottom of the carriage passages 13 and 14 through the frame 1. The stays 15 complete the frame work and in the centres of the end frames between the entrances to and exits from the passages 13 and 14 the heavy plates 16 are rigidly secured to the surrounding angle 1 The bushings 17 and 18 at each end are mounted on the shaft 19, which preferably extends completely through the frame 1 and at the ends is journalled in the bearings 20 supported on the pedestals 21.-

The worm wheel 22 is mounted on the end of the shaft 19 and is driven by the worm 23 on the vertical shaft 24, the latter being driven from the counter shaft 25 operatively connected to the power and to said worm shaft. The frame is enclosed by a cylindrical casing 26 having end walls 27 and 28 and doors '29 and 30 into thepassages 13 and 14 respectively.

The air inlet 31 leads into the casing 26 from a suitable compressed air supply indicated by the tank 32 and the moisture laden air finds egress through the outlet 33.

A flooring platform 34 surrounds the machine at or about the level of the lower tracks in the passages 13 and 14 and the tracks formed by the rails 35 and 36 lead u to the tracks 12. Communicating tracks 3 and switches 38 may be laid around the machine to move the empty trucks from the machine to the loading area.

The goods carriages forming containers in the drying are made to suit the particular material to be dried and may be rolled in the passages or slid in from trucks rolled up to the machine and in the present description to give a better understanding of the invention a carriage suitable for the drying of boards is described and this is formed of U-shaped main frames 39 joined by the plates 40 and 41 and the braces 42 and 43, the wheels 44 being journalled in and situated between the plates 40 and 41. The main frames 39 are close enou h to one another to support any length board likely to be placed in the machine.

The boards 42 are placed in the frames 39 edgewise, that is to say resting on a longitudinal edge face on the flat sides of the angle bars 83 and 84 formin said frames 39, said bars 83 and 84 being rigidly secured together and spaced at the bottom for the insertion of the separators 45, which distance the boards from one another.

In each of the main frames 39 a flanged sleeve 46 is rigidly secured and forms a passage through the inner side in which the screw 47 slides freely, this screw 47 being pivotally secured to the cross head 48 that engages the nearest board.

The nut 49 screws on the screw 47 and 4 compresses the spring 50 encircling the screw against the flange of the sleeve 46, and consequently presses the crosshead 38 tightly against the boards.

The tie bars 51 are hinged to one side of the main frames 39 and are locked to the other side by means of the pins 52, through the projecting fastening end 53.

The anchor bolts 54 are slidably secured in the outer sides of the machine frame and carriage frame 39, and carry on their outer end the wing nuts 55.

The anchor bolts 54 slide through the brackets 56 and the nuts 55 on the bolts 54 draw the carriages through the main frames 39 tightly to the uprights of the frame 1 on which the brackets 56 are mounted, thereby clamping the frames firmly to their extreme outer position against the blocks 57 secured to the guides 11 and 12 of said frame 1 and as the carriages and boards'in each section practically form a unit, there is no chance of displacement vduring the rotation of the frame 1. The casing 26 has openings behind the anchor bolts 54 closed by the plates 76. The hoods 58 and 59 are rigidly secured to opposite sides and ends of the frame 1,

so that in rotation these hoods will cup the air and draw it into the zone forming the carriage path and thereby distribute the air throughout the boards, where it becomes laden with moisture and heavy and naturally falls to the air outlet through which it mounted in the brackets 69 and 70 secured to the corner an le bars 71 and 72 and rolling in the races 3 on the casing, the rollers 74 mounted in the brackets 75 engaging the casing 65 from the upper side of the structure 60.

The machine is locked by the bolt 85 sliding in the straps 86, secured to the floor.

The casing 65 is driven in any suitable manner from one or other end or intermediately as desired.

It will be seen from the fore oing description in detail of this machine t at in the operation of the first form described, the frame 1 rotates within the casing and naturally gathers momentum from its weight.

It has already been explained how the hoods gather the air dunng rotation and direct the flow through around and about the carriages or containers or drying chamfacilitates the transfers of the moisture from material to the air.

side and a freshly loaded carriage passed in,

thereby much facilitating the quick dr ing of products, as there is no time lost an the machine need only be stopped to let out the carriages on one side and in on the other. This is more particularly emphasized in the four chamber machine, as the drying is maintained almost continuously.

The opposite compartments can be loaded at the same time on the same floor level, thereby filling the machine almost instantaneously without unbalancing it.

What I claim is 1. A centrifugal drier comprising a rotatable drying frame forming drying compartments having trackways therethrough parallel to the axis of the frame, a casing having inlets at one end to said compart ments and outlets therefrom at the other end and trackways leading to and from said casing and drying compartments.

2. In a centrifugal machine, a frame rotatably mounted formed of longitudinal, vertical and transverse beams forming passages therethrough, at opposite sides, containers in said passages and a casing enclosing said frame and having an air inlet and an air outlet.

3. In a centrifugal machine, a frame formed of transverse vertical and longitudi= nal beams forming tracks through oppo site drying compartments and end central plates and bushings mounted on a shaft suitably driven, containers in said passages and a casing enclosing said frameand having an air inlet and an air outlet. v

4. In a centrifugal machine, a rotatable frame formed of longitudinal, vertical and transverse angle bars riveted together to form passages through the frame as drying compartments,- containers in compart-' ments, and a casing having openings leading to said passages and an inlet and outlet.

5. In a centrifugal drier, a rotatable frame in open formation and having opposite d ing sections, containers in said sections, oods secured to said frame at opposite sides and ends and adapted to, cup the air and distribute the same in and about said containers, and a casing having entrances to said sections and air inlet and outlet.

. 6. In a centrifugal drier, an open frame rotatably mounted and having compartments at opposite sides, carriages forming containers having main frames and screw adjusted spring tighteners in said frames and pivoted clamping. screws and nuts adapted to engage brackets secured to the main frame and a casing housing said frame and having an inlet connected to a compressed air'supply and a discharge opening for the laden air.

7.'In a centrifugal machine, a frame rotatably mountedand suitably driven having carriage entrances and exits adjacent to a 'horizontal shaft and drying compartments parallel to said shaft on either side thereof, carriages forming containers locked in said compartments, during the rotation, a casing forming a housing for said frame, a central horizontal shaft extending through said casing and journalled in suitable bearings and carrying said frame and a lurality of tracks and switches on said plat orm having branches to and from said casing and therearound.

8,. In a centrifugal drier, a frame rotatably mounted and forming a plurality of compartments diametrically arranged at the same floor level for opposite compartments and running parallel to a central horizontal shaft and a central horizontal shaft suitably driven and carrying means for rotating said frame.

'9; In a centrifugal drier, a frame having diametrically opposite compartments rowan!) wooml'cu.

Signed at Montreal this 18th day of December, 1923.

GOTTUIIB RUDOLPH lIOLLlGl-IR. 

